NEW DELHI: The 35-year-old domestic help Geeta Devi’s eyes caught the news flashing on TV around 9 a.m. on Sunday. She was at her employer’s house in the Vikaspuri area of west Delhi.
It was broadcast that a child has fallen into a deep borewell pit and remains trapped, Geeta says. The news made Geeta’s blood run cold, and her hands trembled. “Could it be Bharat,” she murmured.
Bharat was her 10-year-old son, who had been missing for five days. Geeta told her employer about the matter and rushed towards the Delhi Jal Board plant in Keshopur, where a person had fallen into a 40-foot borewell pit. At the DJB’s site, she saw that she was not alone. Dozens like her had reached the spot, hoping to find their loved ones.
As the borewell diameter was 1.5 feet, initial reports claimed that probably a child might have slipped into it. This made scores of people whose children had gone missing to rush to the site.
By afternoon, as it became clear that it was not a child but a man inside the borewell, hopes of parents and relatives searching for the missing children dashed and started returning.
But the news of a missing man too had its impact as now missing adult persons near and dear ones started reaching the site. While speaking to this newspaper, a 45-year-old woman named Anita, a resident of Ranhola, said that her brother had gone missing since Saturday. “There was the Shivratri festival a day ago. I suspect he might have consumed Bhang and fallen into that pit,” Anita said.
However, after 13 hours of operation, the rescue teams pulled out the body of a man who was then taken to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him dead.
The man is yet to be identified. “It appears that he was aged between 25 and 35 years. Efforts are being made to identify him,” an official said. Sources said the borewell was in a locked room and was abandoned. “So whoever entered the borewell room would have done so by breaking the lock and the door,” an official said. Officials said foul play was possible since it is not easy for an adult to fall in a borewell of 12-inch diameter. “So the victim might have been pushed in,” an official said.
However, police have not said anything about foul play in the incident.
Keshopur Mandi plant
A man fell into a into a 40-foot-deep borewell at a Delh Jal Board sewage treatment plant at west Delhi Keshopur Mandi area. He was pulled out after a nearly 14-hour-long operation and declared brought dead by a hospital. The man is yet to be identified. Sources said the borewell was in a locked room and was abandoned. Officials said foul play was possible since it is not easy for an adult to fall in a borewell of 12-inch diameter.